"It's every tool, every manipulative, every assessment just right there. It makes teaching and learning so much easier and so much more exciting. It's really helped me be a better teacher, and I think it's helped my students be better learners, more active participants. They're more accountable because they know that they are going to play a role in the lesson."

"The first day I used the Activotes with my students was the biggest eye opening day I have ever had in my teaching career. The Activboard can do so many things the other interactive whiteboards can't."

"This is technology that actually levels the playing field. No matter what color your skin is or how shy or confident you are, everybody participates equally in each classroom that uses Activboards. I have seen kids who are less confident speaking up or participating in class who are now equally engaged. That's a hard thing for a teacher to accomplish."

"To address the participation and attention issues in the classroom tomorrow requires that we redesign how we teach today. And so, for our students to become better learners in the future means we have to give teachers the best technology now."

"I'm already seeing a huge increase in the amount of students lining up to use the board. All the kids want to hold the pen and use the programs. My hope is that everyone will want to come in and use it."

"A teacher had a 3-D atlas on the board and it was spinning around while the students calculated distances between two places on a map. The board helped to make more of an impact than if the teacher had just shown her class a flat atlas."

"Students are able to interact on my computer much easier. Not only am I able to control my computer from the board, show them more things, show off more stuff...the students are able to become more involved in that presentation, those different activities."

"It's hard for teachers to compete with the technology that's out there now, because they're so use to seeing action and animation and this is a good way to incorporate that and still teach them at the same time. They don't want to see you scribbling you on a board anymore; they want to see it popping up on a screen."

"Using the boards you are automatically hitting different styles of learning. There are thousands of manipulatives in one. This is how children learn."

"This is going to revolutionize what you do and how you do it. Our children are auditory and visual learners. They are growing up in an age where computer games are the norm. This is a giant computer game to them."

"They know exactly what the answer is and exactly how to do it, but as soon as they're standing in front of 25 or 30 other students, they lose it for some reason. If they're able to answer the question so everybody else can see, but do it from their desks, they build up a much higher level of confidence."

"My students need repetition and this gets them up and moving. This makes for better teaching."

"It provides us with instant feedback with data, then we can make decisions about teaching based on the data the kids are producing for us. And, that's a piece that we're working real hard on now is data driven decision."

"I have visited other school systems' Web sites to get ideas for our program and I've noticed that a lot of other schools don't have the kinds of resources that we have. We're only getting better and better to add more vehicles to get kids interested and taking their own initiatives in learning."

"I definitely see more kids answering, more willing to ask more questions," junior Mason Swenson said. "It makes people actually wanna learn more. Our weekly quiz scores have even gone up."

"Part of the beauty of the plan is that the board helps get everyone involved, including students who sit in the back row. You get those students participating. They don't have to answer out loud, they can just click and drag.

"I can't imagine not having one in my classroom anymore. For me, the technology is just another tool to allow me to do more with the kids.''

Alice Fleck, now in her 19th year was probably the most vocal opponent of putting a system in her room, which at the time was hung with posters and charts to aid in her reading lessons.

"I cried. You're ruining my teaching," I said.

She's quickly learned how powerful the tool is and how easily her kids react to it. "They just love to be chosen to come and use the magic pen," she explained. "Yeah, I was converted."

"They're actively involved and they're excited. Especially our visual learners. It does a lot for them."

"It's really a teaching tool, not just a technology tool. The students are very enthusiastic about them."

"It's definitely the way of the future. This is more interactive. It gets more of them more involved."

"The boards are an essential element of what we call our 21st century classroom. It provides for a great collaborative learning environment because you are incorporating large-screen projection, Internet resources, and an interactive surface that can be used by teachers and students very easily."

"Students make comments like ?Wow, I can't believe you can do this,' as they are circling and underlining words on the board with the pen. They call it the ?magic pen' but because they are physically able to manipulate what's on the board, it makes more of an impact. This board is opening up a whole new world to our students."

"An example would be if I wanted to plot a point on the map up on the board for everyone to see, but not have them get up and walk to the board...they're actually able to control the board from their desks without ever getting out of their chair. They can actually control my computer from their desks."

"Students are digital natives and are going to connect with digital technology. As a teacher you're always looking for any kind of hook. And with the response system, this is the first time in my nine-year teaching career that I can know how each student is responding."

"I rarely write on my board anymore because you have limited space, and with this I can use really big font. Before I got the software downloaded I was having a couple of children complain that they couldn't see. When I use this now not a one of them says I can't see."

"Imagine my surprise, when I attended one of the sessions at the VSTE conference in March 2004, and, there, at the front of the conference room was a large interactive whiteboard doing everything I had always hoped for. The images were BIG, the children could write and they could draw on the board, and they could even click and drag images across the board! They could go to a Web site and do everything that one could do at a computer. This wonderful invention was called the Activboard. I was in love!"

"You put it up there with color, and they're fascinated. Just because you're clicking a few buttons, you have them."

"I walked into my room and my assistant had the 'overhead' shining on the Activboard screen. My kids all screamed, ?Mrs Zidian, where's the Activboard? Look what we had to use!!!'...The truth is, I would feel the same if I had to teach without it!"

"The Activboard is the most innovative teaching tool I have used since I first turned on an Atari computer in my classroom seventeen years ago."